


Teachers and Students

by FunkyinFishnet



Category: Dancing with the Stars (US) RPF
Genre: Dancing, Established Relationship, F/M, Friendship, Sign Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-03
Updated: 2012-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-30 13:28:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/332236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkyinFishnet/pseuds/FunkyinFishnet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not just dancing that the contestants are learning in season 6. The pros are learning something new too and Marlee has it all in hand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teachers and Students

Marlee and her interpreter, Jack, ended up teaching most of the dancers how to sign backstage on show nights. It was something everyone seemed to want to learn.

 

Fabian was learning everyday and put some of the signs into their routines for a little something extra. Marlee kept it simple and the judges liked it (mostly).

 

Predictably, the guys wanted to learn the dirty signs to see if they could get away with cursing on air without anyone noticing. They didn’t, though Penn managed it with a grin and loud smirking.

 

“Sleight of hand,” was all he said, arm around Marlee who hugged him back. “Hey, at least I’ve learned something here I’m good at, right?”

 

Derek still signed ‘your mother’ to Mark on camera, causing Julianne to snort and sign something back at her brother that got a laugh and a high-five from Marlee. Neither of them would tell Derek what she’d signed and Jack claimed his lips were sealed. It drove Derek crazy, which was always fun to watch. 

 

Adam asked for the weirdest things to sign and had very clumsy hands. Jack said he was impossible, but taught him anyway. 

 

Julianne learned quickly and got really excited about it. She had a pretty accent to her signing that matched her personality and had a competition going with Derek. She signed the same thing with her hands by her sides on camera every night that Apollo couldn’t make it to the live show. 

 

Marlee thought it was very cute. What Mark and Derek thought about it caused Julianne to chase them through the hallways and steal their hair products.

 

Apollo learnt to sign from Julianne and signed, ‘hello, how are you?’ with almost no mistakes when introduced to Marlee for the first time. Julianne was gleeful in telling him that she was much better at it than him. She did a little ‘I’m better than you’ dance around him until Apollo threw her over his shoulder and carried her outside.

 

“No one’ll miss you if I put you in the garbage right now,” he told his girlfriend. “In fact, people’ll probably thank me. It’ll be a lot quieter around here.”

 

Cheryl’s sign of ‘we miss you, Maks’ on-camera got a call on her cell phone towards the end of the broadcast.

 

“It’s the not the same, of course, I understand. It sucks without me.”

 

The phone got passed around and Anna kindly translated the Russian curses, with great amusement, that Maks directed at Fabian.

 

“You’d like Maks,” Kym told Marlee. “He’s pretty outrageous.”

 

Maks did come to visit the week his students were performing on the results show. He looked relaxed and confident all in black with his shirt unbuttoned which got him a lot of teasing from everyone.

 

“This chest gets votes,” he announced with a wide smirk as Marissa threw herself at him. 

 

He and Fabian joked about past competitions and exactly who had won the most between them. There was one a few years back in the late nineties that they still disagreed about. Fabian signed something catty at Maks and told anyone who would listen all about it.

 

“Maks is still mad…….”

 

Maks hung out 'til he’d been interviewed, caught up with everyone, and reamed out his students a little after their performance, before heading off to find Mel. That got a lot of rolled eyes and snarky comments. Maks denied nothing and grinned.

 

“Just jealous,” he flipped his collar and pointed at Tony and Derek who were yelling after him.

 

The best moment for Marlee though, was when Mark looked for Sabrina in the audience after his routine and his girlfriend signed ‘I love you, baby’ right at him with the biggest, proudest smile. The surprise on Mark’s face was beautiful, Marlee clapped and laughed, and Jack gave her a high-five. She loved causing the unexpected.

 

“You were awesome,” Fabian signed and said as they walked, arm pressed around her proudly.

 

Marlee grinned, flicking her sequinned train out of her way, and signed ‘I love it’ against the back of Fabian’s silk shirt.

 

“You did a really good job,” bubbled Kym as she waltzed past, clasping hands briefly after she’d gracefully signed.

 

“Oh my god, you have everyone learning it!” exclaimed Fabian with a laugh. “That’s amazing! Do you know how focused we all are on winning?! You’ve got them actually concentrating on something else other than dancing!”

 

The sign Marlee made for ‘victory’ wasn’t always about the dancing either.

 

_-the end_


End file.
